In October 2013, Amnesty International released the report ‘Will I be next? US drone strikes in Pakistan’. The use of drones in Pakistan has become an extremely controversial topic. At the crux of this controversy lies the lack of transparency of the US government and military on the true impacts drones have on civilians, including how many, if any, have been killed as a result of their use. The second fear factor of drones are their ‘video game’ effect on the reality of warfare. Many argue the reality of drones presence and utility in Pakistan is distorted by the distance and virtualisation of the war zone through its appearance as merely an image on a screen. The big question, is whether the use of drones in Pakistan is still, or was ever, necessary, and has their use committed not ply unacceptable human rights violations, but international war crimes?Follow the link below to see the full report:

Aljazeera recently commented on the dialogue between human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights watch with government officials, and summarise comprehensively the current situation in the feature below: